Scottish Ensemble & RCS Strings: Side-by-Side

Stevenson Hall, RCS, Glasgow, 16/1/25

Scottish Ensemble, RCS Strings, Jonathan Morton (director/violin)

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s Stevenson Hall was the venue for a ‘Fridays at One’ concert on 16th January, the first of two outings for a ‘Side-by-Side’ performance, featuring 15 RCS student string players in collaboration with (and under the mentorship of) 5 principal professionals from the Scottish Ensemble.  This culmination of a week-long immersive creative residency, which included not only rehearsing a programme but also guidance with auditioning and chamber ensemble playing without a conductor, presented a pot-pourri of late 20th century and contemporary music, mostly excerpts and selections from longer works, covering a huge variety of playing techniques, performing styles, chamber music timbres and textures, and expressive moods.  The tiered seating of the auditorium was filled to capacity and included plenty of RCS students as well as the general public.  Leader/Director of the Scottish Ensemble, Jonathan Morton, directed from the violin.

Jessie Montgomery’s 2012 ‘Starburst’ is a short single-movement work, pacey and vigorous and teeming with creative energy, something which was to prove a feature of the whole recital.  Rhythmic figures chugging along like an excursion train full of gleeful holidaymakers contrasted with lyrical fragments in the texture passed between the sections.  A super choice of concert opener, it put me in mind of Bartók in festive mood, but with flavours too of the New England School.  Following enthusiastic applause, Jonathan Morton spoke of the annual ‘Side-by-Side’ project  before handing over the microphone to RCS student in the second violins, Celia Griffiths, to introduce the next piece.  Henryk Górecki’s ‘Three Pieces in Old Style’ was written in 1963 in response to a criticism that his music ‘lacks a good tune’.  The three short pieces have a neo-classical feel and a sense of simplicity with a focus on exploring string sonorities (and not, to be strictly truthful, memorable melody).  In the first, a slow rocking chordal figure supports a less static simple melodic figure, periodically resolving to a warm chord, growing in volume to a sudden stop.  The middle piece is more rustic and dancelike in mood, though switching between triple and quadruple metre would fox most dancers.  The emphatic tutti concluding phrase receives a subito piano afterglow without first violins.  The final piece is minor-key chorale-like, building to a climax, then, after a short calm interlude, an emphatic conclusion.  Even when Górecki asks specifically for no vibrato, the ensemble tone was phenomenally rich and played to the acoustic strengths of the hall – very professional.

The next four short pieces were performed as a set.  The 2nd and 3rd of Witold Lutosławski’s ’Five Folk Melodies’, from his 1952 transcription of a 1945 piano work, are the composer in genial mood (he could also be very austere).  ‘Hi! I’m from Krakow’ is a tripping pizzicato dance, slowing down and speeding up before a final dash (so not actually a Krakowiak).  ‘The Grove’ is folksong-like, light-hearted and played arco.  Characterful and engaging.  The Scherzo second movement from Elizabeth Maconchy’s 1983 Proms commission, ‘Music for Strings’, is deliciously mischievous, with lyrical 5/4 arco and playful 5/8 pizzicato rhythms playing tag, and a cheeky featherlight pizzicato finish.  Absolutely delightful, with the joy of chamber playing visible and almost tangible.  ‘Music of Training and Rest’ from Tōru Takemitsu’s film score for ‘José Torres’ opened with an unexpected bluesy urban jazz feel, with elements of a tango beat and lots of smoochy portamento.  A dreamy romance concluded morendo.  Ensemble tone throughout was fabulous.

The next set of 4 excerpts (all realisations for string ensemble of string quartet music) started with the finale (5th movement) from Caroline Shaw’s 2015 String Quartet, ‘Plan & Elevation’, titled ‘The Beech Tree’.  A warmly arpeggiated pizzicato cello chord progression opens and is overtaken by the pitter-patter of raindrops emulated by quasi-random pizzicato in the violins (an effect that Shaw revisited for voices two years later in the closing bars of ‘And the swallow’).  Lyrical arco violas, joined by violin harmonics, take over the chordal progression, while string-crossing cellos emulate the shower.  A solo viola meditatively closes with the opening chordal progression.  Short and sweet, and absolutely gorgeous.  The second of the ‘10 Preludes’ that make up Hans Abrahamsen’s 1973 String Quartet No.1 is melodically minimalist (if not obsessively monotone) and focusses on rhythmic and timbral transformations concluding (not a moment too soon, in my view, despite its otherwise merciful brevity) with an upwardly swooping cello glissando.  Not a fan.  By contrast, the penultimate 6th movement of Thomas Adès’ ‘Arcadiana’, titled ‘O Albion’ is delicious, occupying the same melodic and harmonic territory as the Adagio of Elgar’s First Symphony, though of course much briefer.  Beautifully rendered with subtle phrasing and the warmest of tone, evoking a pastoral stillness that I didn’t want to end.  The 3rd movement of Philip Glass’ String Quartet No.3 “Mishima”, titled  ‘1934 - Grandmother and Kimitake’.  The music is compiled from that written for a film.  A more genial minimalism than the Abrahamsen, fairly typical Glass but nothing special.  Stylishly realised, though.

The recital concluded with a complete 4-movement work: Finnish pianist/composer Olli Mustonen’s 2000 String Nonet No.2, originally for two quartets and a double bass, the 9 parts distributed over the 20 players.  The brief Inquieto first movement was indeed a nervous exposition of themes hidden in rhythmic syncopated trill fragments, with a vaguely neoclassical vibe.  The ensuing Allegro impetuoso was a scherzo with echoes of the rhythms in the scherzos of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Schubert’s String Quintet, set in an almost Sibelian tonal landscape.  The ghost of Beethoven hovered over the Adagio too, the exquisite harmonies of the ‘Heiliger Dankgesang’ from Op.132 shining through a melody that was remarkably redolent of ‘The Skye Boat Song’, the longest of the 4 movements almost too modally delicious to finish.  The playful Vivacissimo finale had the nervous energy of the opening bars of the finale of Sibelius 5th Symphony and bowled along with gleeful scurrying momentum until its emphatic conclusion.  This was a first hearing for me of this work.  It is an absolute gem and it received a persuasive outing that could easily rival, if not surpass, a topflight professional performance.

What happened this week could be reported in different ways.  5 masters coached 15 apprentices and gave a concert to showcase the result?  True.  But I prefer the following.  20 musicians of assorted ages explored some lesser known repertoire together.  In the journey all learned, all grew and all made discoveries.  They then shared the joy with an audience by taking them on the same journey, their mission to show them the wonders of the music.  Mission accomplished.